PMD: Lost Spirit
by MagicAngelo
Summary: In a world where Pokémon ruled and humans were regarded as fairy tales, a human boy was discovered in Treacherous Forest, injured and unconscious. A rescue team brought him to a nearby guild in order to find a way to return him to his home, as well as research the phenomenon that allowed him here in the first place. But if only they knew of the troubles left in the boy's wake...


**A/N: Word of warning, this is a rewrite of chapter one. The rewrite of chapter 2 is underway, which is why the previous chapter two is taken down; to prevent confusion when people jump from this rewrite to the old chapter two. **

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one!**

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Chapter 1: An Unlikely Ally

...

...

... _Ngh..._

The first thing he felt was a pulsing ache that was concentrated at the back of his head. It felt like someone was insistently slamming their fist against his skull, and it refused to go away. There was a different ache in his belly too; a gnawing, growling pain that made his stomach twist itself into knots. It emitted a low growl, and he winced.

Food. He had to find food. Why was he so hungry? He shifted his head to the left, and nausea washed over him at the slight motion. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the ticklish grass blades under his cheek and not the dizzying headache. _Uhh... I don't feel good..._

Inch by inch, he got his knees tucked under his stomach and propelled himself upwards, landing on his rear with an 'oomph'. The sudden motion sent his brain rattling in his skull, forcing him to grab the sides of his head and wait for the sensation to pass. He only dared to start thinking about his situation when the dizzy spell had passed.

_Where... Where am I...?_ He couldn't remember where he was before, but he had a feeling that he wasn't supposed to be sitting on a patch of grass and daisies... wait, wasn't supposed to be?

The realisation made him snap his head up in alarm. If he wasn't supposed to be here, wherever "here" was, then where was he supposed to be? Where was his home? Friends? Parents?

More questions along the same line swirled around in his head, but no matter how hard he tried to recall, only one thing surfaced from his memories — 'Angelo'. Was that his name? Angelo... "Ahn-jer-low— Ow!" he yelped out loud agonising bolt shot through his skull. Wincing, Angelo felt up the back of his head, hissing as his fingers brushed past a tender spot and... a knot? He pinched at it, and his fingers encountered a knot of fabric just below the tender area. _What...?_

Was he wearing a blindfold? That thought turned more plausible as he traced against a strip of cloth from the knot, wrapping around his head and covered his eyes. It was completely covered. But he was still able to see...?

The headache grew worse the more Angelo thought about it. _Ouch... I'll think about it later. I want to find food first._

Putting aside the blindfold matter for now, Angelo started to scan his surroundings as much as his stiff neck allowed him to. Before him was a field of lush grass and blooming flower buds that bowed to the breeze whistling by, which stretched on endlessly into the horizon, seemingly ending at two pinpricks of brown that could've been anything ranging from mountains to a town in this distance. He couldn't tell. It was otherwise devoid of any bushes or trees, anything that could potentially bear fruit.

A beaten dirt path cut through the field like a strip of colour painted across a canvas, and Angelo noticed faint imprints pressed into the earth vaguely resembling footprints. Despite his foggy state of mind, Angelo was able to easily piece it together: someone must have passed by here recently. Which meant that he could find help soon—!

However, the sense of euphoria faded as quickly as it came once Angelo took in more of the scenery. The field stretched outwards and forwards, farther than his eyes could see, and there was nothing for miles and miles except for aforementioned brown spot in the distance and sheer emptiness. A hollow breeze whistled by at that moment, which made his hair stand on end.

The daunting scene made Angelo draw his knees up to his chest. His heart crept up to his mouth, unable to find the willpower to even attempt to get up. The thought of trying to cross that made his chest tighten so much that it hurt.

Angelo twisted his head back, hoping to find another way back, and his heart stopped. There was a forest right behind him, which was terrifying in a different way. While the grassy field was just overwhelmingly vast to the point that he'd collapse before crossing halfway, the forest was the complete opposite. A cluster of mahogany-brown trees, with a dark green canopy so thick that it blocked out most of the sun's rays, towered over him menacingly. Ominous shadows stretched and receded with the wind, but never seemed to cross an invisible line in the ground. There was so little sunlight that Angelo could barely see five feet ahead, and the imaginary dangers his mind concocted sent shivers down his spine.

Unlike the intimidating meadow, the forest straight up terrified him.

What was he supposed to do? Angelo scanned the area again as he carefully got to his feet, but he quickly lost hope at finding any other options. There were basically two directions: meadow or forest.

Angelo was rooted with indecision. The forest was giving off all sorts of bad vibes, at least with the meadow, he could see where he was going. But there wasn't so much as a hint of food in that direction, much less civilisation, and forests usually had fruits and berries growing somewhere. But he could easily get lost in its winding paths, the meadow was just a straight line across...

The pounding in his head grew worse. Angelo sucked in a shaky breath, in an effort to quell his churning stomach. _Where... What am I supposed to do? I can't go anywhere...!_

But just before Angelo could fully lose his nerves, the forest suddenly swallowed him in its dark grasp.

Angelo let loose a shriek, and fell backwards again as he stared at the rising forestry around him in horror. Trees and trees and trees rose out of the earth like waking beasts, transforming the once pretty-looking meadow into the same gnarly forest he saw from the outside. It happened so quickly, so silently...

What was happening?! Was he losing his mind?

With all his senses heightened in his trepidation, Angelo easily caught the snap of a branch to his right. He froze. "Huh...?"

Then what sounded like two voices followed immediately after. One spoke with no lack of urgency, which didn't help with his own apprehension one bit. "What are you doing?! They're not going to be fooled by this!"

"They won't if you keep yelling like that!" the second voice retorted.

They? Who were 'they'? Were 'they' coming right at him?!

Looking around frantically, Angelo spotted a nearby tree with a trunk wide enough to hide him. He dashed towards it as the voices drew even closer, speed only hampered by his wobbly knees, and he just managed to pull himself behind its protective shade just as two Pokémon appeared.

Angelo didn't look to see who it was. He didn't dare to; it was all he could do to swallow down his whimpers, teeth gritted and fingers clenched tightly on his shorts. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, soaking into the blindfold. The roar of blood in his ears dulled his headache, which he would've been grateful for if he wasn't so terrified at the moment.

Despite all that, Angelo could still pick up every word the mysterious duo were saying. "Great, now what?" the first voice yelped.

"Hide!" ordered the second voice.

A sudden flash of green skittered past his hiding spot, nearly making him shriek. A lithe, lengthy body zipped up the tree next to his and curled itself around a branch, immediately blending in with the leaves. Angelo stared up at the servine, but he wasn't so much as spared a glance. The servine's focus was solely on what was happening on the ground.

A second later, another one skidded behind the tree. This one was a zoroark, and its eyes were glowing... or was that his imagination? "What're you waiting for?!" the servine hissed.

Oh. Oh, they were _talking_. That pretty much confirmed it; Angelo was hallucinating now.

"Hang on, I'm-" The zoroark glanced down, and their eyes met. His jaw dropped. "What the f-?!"

"Zee!"

"Tch!" The zoroark snapped his attention back in front.

Their pursuers soon made themselves known as a new mix of voices came bursting into the clearing. "Where are they? They couldn't have gone that far!" a gruff voice snapped.

Angelo huddled against the tree, trembling.

There was a pause, and then a gasp. "There they are, sir!" another voice said.

The zoroark's eyes were still glowing. He seemed to be concentrating on something, judging from his creased forehead. Whatever the owners of the voices saw, they immediately turned around and followed it, disappearing deeper into the forest again.

Angelo waited a few more seconds. Once he was sure that the hostile voices weren't coming back, before he dared to unfurl. He breathed out a sigh of relief, his heart rate slowing down from the absence of a danger he wasn't aware existed. _That... That was close.._.

"Ahem."

Angelo's head jerked up, as if pulled by an invisible string. The zoroark was staring down at him with a blank expression. Was he supposed to say something now...? "U-um, hi-"

"Hey, Sev?" the zoroark suddenly said, with a level of calmness that was frightening, in a different way. "Get down here for a bit. You need to see this."

"What? Did they come back?"

"E-excuse m—" Angelo stammered.

"No, I distracted them just fine. But that's not the issue now," the zoroark said without a pause.

"Then what is it?!"

The zoroark's eye twitched. "Get down here and see for yourself," he growled at the branch above his head.

Angelo heard a rustle, and flinched as the servine leapt out of the tree, executing a little mid-air flip before landing neatly on the ground. His dainty-looking features were twisted into a scowl as he whipped around, saying, "What the heck is so important—"

Then they made eye contact.

Angelo watched as a series of emotions slowly transitioned on the servine's face. First was confusion, then dawning realisation, and his eyes finally flew wide open with shock. "Wh-wha-that's—! Zee!" The servine whirled around at his friend. "What is this?!"

The glow left Zee's eyes, and at that moment, the trees that had appeared so suddenly vanished. Angelo blinked owlishly as the forestry faded away into nothing, leaving behind the picturesque meadow from before. _What? What happened? So it wasn't real? But the tree felt so real..._

Both of them weren't paying attention to the mysterious disappearing forest. Both of them were staring at Angelo like he had turned into a rabid beast, which he didn't recall doing anything to deserve. "Sev, you're seeing what I'm seeing, right?" Zee asked, a sliver of nervousness finally breaking through his level voice.

"Seeing? You mean it's not _you _doing it?" Sev asked, baffled.

"Me?! What the hell are you talking about? Just take a look for yourself!" Zee suddenly stepped forward and rapped Angelo sharply on the forehead, causing him to yelp and topple backwards. "See? Not an illusion."

The servine still looked extremely doubtful. "But… but that can't be a human, right? H-humans aren't supposed to exist anymore!"

"But don't you see the weird garb they have on? It's not exactly a fashion statement around these parts, or around _any _parts for that matter. What 'mon wears stuff like that, huh?"

Both of them seemed to be shooting in opposite directions as the conversation went on, Zee seemed to be calming down now that he had confirmed Angelo wasn't dangerous, while Sev was getting progressively agitated.

Angelo could feel his dread growing as well. Most of their words flew over his head, but one thing stood out the most: there were no humans here. And they didn't seem willing to help him too.

_I need to get away!_ was his first thought. It was immediately followed up by, _But they're the only people I've seen in a while, I can't just let them walk away!_

Angelo remained rooted to the ground as he struggled to make a decision — should he run, or should he stay and try to convince them? — but he was soon snapped out of it by Sev's next words.

"Gah, fine, fine, you made your point. But we still have this to deal with this! What are we going to do?" Sev hissed, waving his arms wildly in Angelo's direction.

"... We'll just leave them? When did the human suddenly become _our _problem again?" Zee questioned.

What? They were just going to leave him here? "Wait!" he blurted out, scrambling to his feet. "Please don't go! I-I need your help!" Forget about them being strangers, he didn't want to be left all alone in this strange place again. "I, I don't know where I am, I'm lost, I don't know how I got here, I-!"

Angelo stepped forward, and Sev seemed to jump a foot into the air.

"Stay back!" The servine extended twin vines from its body. "Don't you dare come closer!"

Knees shaking a little, Angelo inched backwards. His eyes were trained on the snaking vines.

_Run. Just run!_

Zee gave his friend a perturbed look. "Jeez, chill out a little, Sev. Look at it, it's not gonna bite your head off or anything. If we leave it here, someone'll probably happen across it and—"

"Are you stupid? 'Mons are going to lose it if they see the human! You know how they feel about them here!"

"They're not all like you, idiot."

"Oh no, it's not because of that." Sev's eyes were wide with... Angelo wasn't sure what. But it made him back away all the same. "I have a good reason for this. Imagine if someone sees this human, and they run away, what are they going to do, you ask?"

Sev began pacing back and forth, his vines waving around empathetically. "They'll start panicking, and then they'll be putting out scouts to track it down, and then where does that leave us? Teams at every corner! Trapped like cornered rattatas! The boss already isn't happy with us, we haven't had a good s—!"

Zee suddenly smacked him upside the head. "Shut. Calm down, or you'll be the one scaring it off," he said, gesturing at Angelo. He didn't seem to realise that Angelo was inching away from them, bit by bit. "How about this, then? We'll just drop him off at the guild's doorstep and be on our way—"

"No! We cannot let anyone else see it!" Sev snapped. "We have to dump it to another continent and leave it for them to find! Why not the Dust Bowls? The crazies there always keep yammering on about humans, let them deal with an actual one for once in their— hey!"

Angelo had heard enough to see where this was going. The forest didn't seem so bad now in comparison to relying on these two, especially after hearing 'crazies' and 'leave it' from the servine, and they weren't listening to him anyway. He wasn't about to sit around and find out just what Sev meant by that. When he was sure that he was far enough, Angelo turned and bolted towards the forest.

He barely managed to get five feet away before a tree shot out of the ground.

Angelo yelped, instinctively twisting away before he bashed his face against the rough bark, and he tumbled face-first into the ground. _What was that?!_

"What did I tell you? It's pretty stupid if it took this long to make a run for it," he distantly heard Zee say.

Someone picked Angelo up by the waist; it took Angelo a few seconds to realise that it was the servine with his vines wrapped around him.

"Lemme go!" Angelo squealed, clawing at the slender vines. They simply tightened in response, leaving him breathless.

Both turned back as if nothing happened, although the servine's face held a hint of disgust. "Look, if you really want to do this, then fine," Zee said, with forced patience denoting his words. "You'll bring it to Bay Town and the ferry service there, and I'll relay everything to the boss. Sound fair?"

"What? No! _You're_ going to bring it to the bay!" Sev retorted. "You have your abilities, you can easily hide the human from the townsfolk!"

"Me-?!"

Angelo was unceremoniously dumped at the zoroark's feet in a heap. Zee leapt back with a look of bewilderment, but before he could say anything, Sev hoisted himself onto a branch and leapt away from tree to tree, disappearing into the forest with a fading, "Try not to get caught!"

"Hey, get back here, you-!" The zoroark jerked forward as if to give chase, but stopped in his tracks. "... Tch, not worth it."

Zee's gaze turned towards Angelo, who stiffened at the attention. Something in his gaze seemed to change. "... Okay, this is no big deal. They can't hurt you. Just get it over with," he muttered to himself, pinching the bridge of his snout.

_Uh..._ Angelo watched apprehensively as the zoroark seemed to have come to a decision, and he almost flinched back when a paw was extended towards him. "Come on, get up. I don't have all day."

Accepting it with a trembling hand, Angelo was roughly hauled to his feet. "So. You're a real mess, aren't you?" Zee commented, his tone less than caring.

Angelo's stomach gave a low growl before he could answer.

"And you look like you haven't been eating for days, too," he tacked on. "C'mon, I'll get you something to eat if you follow me-"

Angelo yelped, immediately wrested himself out of Zee's grasp, staggering back a few paces. "Wait! I don't want to go anywhere with you! Y-you said you were g-going to-!"

"Hey hey hey, I wasn't going to do anything to you!" Zee hesitated, and amended, "I mean, I was saying that we should leave you behind, but! But, the situation changed when _that_ jerkwad left me." He shot a disgruntled look at the direction the servine left. "Now I have to get you out of here, before _he_ can get _me_ in trouble."

"Wh-what kind of trouble?" Angelo stuttered, faltering slightly when Zee's eyes narrowed.

"That's none of your business," Zee grunted. "Look, I don't like this any more than you, but it's not like I have a choice either. I need you to get out of here, and you need to return to your home, right? I can help you with that."

Angelo bit his lip in uncertainty. Go with him...? On top of having so many questions about the talking zoroark and the weird forest trick, there was no way Angelo was going to let himself go with a strange, talking Pokémon that explicitly didn't want anything to do with him!

"I have food," Zee added. He dipped a paw into his bag and withdrew an apple. It was tiny and bruised; not the most appetising appearance in the world. Angelo's stomach growled at the sight.

Zee's mouth twitched upwards. "You want this, don't you?" he said, waving the apple in an almost taunting way.

His stomach growled even more ferociously. The zoroark's words struck a chord of irritation in Angelo, but... he was so hungry... What should he do?

...

"... D'you promise to bring me back home?" Angelo finally asked in a wary tone.

"Of course I will. Didn't I just say that?"

"O-okay. Then... Th-then I'll come with you." Angelo didn't like this. Not one bit. But Zee was the only person around that Angelo could rely on. He didn't even know anything about him... "... Wh-what's your name?"

"Just call me Zoroark," he said shortly. "And what about you? I don't wanna have to keep calling you 'human', it'll get annoying real fast."

"A-Angelo."

"_Angelo_?" Zoroark scowled. "That's even worse. Feh, I'll just stick with calling you 'kid'."

Angelo frowned slightly, but he was otherwise too tired to protest. "How did you get here anyway?" Zoroark questioned. "Bay Town's way too far from here for a kid like ya, and you couldn't have gone through Treacherous Forest... unless... Hey, is anyone with you?"

"Huh?"

"Friends, partners, whatever. Did anyone see you, or accompany you?" Zoroark asked with a bite of impatience.

"U-um..." A minute spent on trying to recall proved fruitless. He couldn't remember that either. "... No. No, there i-isn't."

"Nobody saw you?" he pressed.

Angelo shook his head.

"... Alright then. Where did you come from, then? I mean your home," Zoroark clarified upon seeing Angelo's puzzled look. "It shouldn't be too far from here. Like a little community of you hidden away on some remote island, or…"

Angelo shook his head again.

Zoroark blinked. "Wh-what? Excuse me?" He scowled. "Come on, you had to have come from somewhere, right? If you're trying to lie to me, you're doing a terrible job at it. How do you expect me to get you off this place if you won't even tell me—"

"I can't remember anything!"

The instantaneous look of horror on Zoroark's face made Angelo immediately regret his words. _Why did I say that?_

"Tell me you're joking. _Please _tell me you're joking," Zoroark said, his voice almost pleading.

Well, Angelo already dug himself into this. What was it to him if he went a little deeper? "I… I'm not. I really can't remember anything," he said, shrinking back a little.

"... You have amnesia. Great. Now how the hell am I supposed to get you out of here?"

Angelo could only give a helpless shrug, ducking his head. He didn't trust himself to say anything that wouldn't potentially set Zoroark off.

Zoroark hissed out an aggravated sigh through his teeth, and when Angelo dared to look up again, he saw the 'mon rubbing his temples with an irritable look. "It's fine, it's fine, I can work with this. It's not a big deal," he muttered to himself. "That guy… He _has _to know something about humans. If not, then I'm screwed..."

_That guy? Who is he talking about?_

"Whatever, not a big deal," Zoroark muttered to himself again. Then he seemed to remember that Angelo was still there. "Oh, right. Here you go." He tossed the apple to him. Angelo wasted no time snatching it out of the air and biting into it, the first burst of flavour in what felt like forever only serving to encourage him to eat faster.

"You feel better now?" Zoroark asked flatly.

Angelo nodded, polishing off the rest of the fruit. However, it wasn't enough by a long shot, and he shot Zoroark a side glance. "Um... can I have another? Please?" he asked cautiously.

"Later. I'm getting you out of here first, before anyone sees you."

His mouth ticked down in disappointment, but nevertheless, Angelo accepted it. The apple had helped him anyway; Angelo's mind felt slightly clearer, and he didn't feel like he was constantly on the verge of collapsing.

"I'm bringing you to the docks," Zoroark continued, eyes darting here and there. "There's someone there who'll be able to get you off of this continent."

"Wh-who are you talking about?"

"You don't need to know that now." Zoroark's voice was definitely getting testy now. "We should get a move on now, before someone sees us."

His eyes widened behind the blindfold. "Uh, o-okay!" Angelo hastily moved to his side, nearly tripping over his own feet. Zoroark took him by the elbow without another word.

Angelo resisted the urge to squirm out of his grip. As much as he wanted to keep his distance away from the Pokémon, Angelo needed him now. Only because he had no better options.

"C'mon, we're going this way." Zoroark was leading him towards the... oh no, it was the meadow. By instinct, Angelo drifted closer to him as they began to walk along the dirt path. It was way more comforting travelling along the wide, open meadow with another person by his side, regardless of who that person was.

The air was shimmering around them again, like before with Zoroark. So that must mean... Angelo turned to see if his eyes were glowing again, and to his shock, there was no one there. But he was still grasping into a furry limb. This must have been one of his magic tricks, Angelo realised. It was so weird, and his aching mind was having trouble making sense of it. Zoroark was there, but he wasn't.

Whoa.

Angelo wasn't there either. He turned his invisible hand over and over again in wonder. He could feel it, it was still attached to his wrist... but he couldn't see it.

"What are you doing?" Zoroark suddenly hissed into his ear. "Keep walking!"

"... You're not there," was all Angelo said in hushed awe. He reached forward to bat at the empty space in wonder, and his fingers received a smack in return.

"Stop that!" Angelo's hand was forcefully pushed away. "Did you hit your head just now or what?"

That seemed pretty plausible now that Zoroark brought it up. His head was aching pretty fiercely.

Zoroark breathed out a sigh. "Just... keep your voice down. We're invisible to other 'mons now, and it's not going to do us any good if someone started hearing voices from out of nowhere. If you can keep your trap shut for about five minutes, until we can find somewhere good to hide, I'll give you more food. Sound good?"

More food. That much, Angelo could understand. He opened his mouth, then remembered Zoroark's words, and closed it with a small nod. Zoroark made a satisfied noise, and they finally began walking down the dirt path. Angelo latched onto his elbow immediately. He thought he heard another sigh from next to him, but Zoroark didn't try to pull away.

The sunlight had grown harsher during the course of their little exchange, sending waves of unbearable heat down on his bare neck. The pressure in his head refused to let up, and the ground seemed to shift under his feet with every step.

In spite of that, Angelo still wanted to ask his new... escort so many more questions. His biggest one being, where was he? Why did Pokémon here talk like he did? And why would it be bad if said Pokémon saw him? Did Angelo do something wrong? He tried to bring up his own memories again, anything that could tell him anything about his own situation...

Still nothing.

A needle of frustration pierced the fog in his head. Great, that was just great. The most he could recall beyond his own name was the species of the Pokémon he saw today. Really helpful. So he couldn't remember his home, or, or, how he ended up at the forest's edge...

_Maybe my home isn't far from here_, a hopeful voice whispered in his mind._ Someone has to be looking for me... Please..._

All of a sudden, his foot caught onto something jutting out of the ground and Angelo stumbled forward. He managed to regain his balance easily, though. "Watch where you're going!" Zoroark hissed, giving his arm a sharp tug.

Angelo blinked. The ground beneath his feet has transitioned from the soft dirt path to a crumbly rock path with numerous cracks running through it, which explained his near accident. On either side of the duo, craggy cliffs stretched skyward like two immovable guardians, looming over them silently. Just like the ground, numerous openings littered the surface with liberty, albeit being wide enough for a person to slip into. Were there any creatures hiding there, he wondered.

There were many openings in the cliffs at ground level too. The pitch black entrances seemed to beckon to unsuspecting travellers like them, and Angelo turned his head away, heart thumping. _That's not anything. I'm not scared, I'm not scared, I'm not scared..._ The setting sun just made it worse, creating elongated shadows that seemed to swallow everything it touched in darkness.

"There it is. Over here." The invisible Zoroark tugged on his arm, pulling him towards a particularly gaping hole in the cliff. "I think it used to be a den, but if we're lucky, there shouldn't be any rogues hiding in here..."

"Huh? Wait, I thought you're bringing me to the docks!" Angelo yelped, trying to twist away from his hold. Zoroark let slip a derisive snort, and he gave a tug that easily lifted Angelo off his feet.

"Stop whining and just listen to me!"

Zoroark dropped the illusion of invisibility as he dragged the struggling Angelo into the den, giving him a none too gentle shove to propel him inside. The den was empty, just like Zoroark had said. Empty, dark and startlingly cool. "Keep your voice down. I know you have that blindfold on — and I'm not going to waste my time asking what the hell is up with that — but I know you can still see with it on. The sun's setting now, and I'm not traveling around with a human in the dark," Zoroark declared. "You're staying there," He pointed at the back of the den, "and you're going to wait there until I get back."

The words 'until I get back' instantly set off alarms in his head. "No, wait! You're leaving me?" Angelo nearly crashed into Zoroark rushing to his side, stopping at the tip of his toes as if ready to take flight.

"Yeah. Duh," Zoroark said, placing a paw on his chest and pushing Angelo away like he weighed nothing. Angelo stumbled backwards, barely able to keep balance. "I'm not going to waste my time dragging you around like a deadweight. Just stay in the back of the den and don't make a noise, and nobody will notice you. Maybe."

"W-wait, no! Please, I can help you, I promise!" Angelo protested, stepping forward despite the pulsing ache at the back of his head. "I'll even do whatever you say! Please, don't leave me here."

Zoroark stared at him for a good long while, as Angelo twisted the hem of his shirt, to keep his fingers from twitching. After several, prolonged minutes of unease, the 'mon let out a gust of breath. He pulled out a yellow seed big enough to fit in Angelo's palm. "_Fine_, you can come along, but only if you eat this for me."

_Oh, that was… easier than I thought it'd be._ Angelo took it, turning it over in his hand as he inspected it. The seed felt oddly cool to the touch... "What's this?" he asked, uncertainty shown plainly on his face.

"It's supposed to give you some of your energy back, enough for one trip into dungeons. I'm not blind like you, alright? I can tell when someone's weak, and you look like you're on death's doorstep." Zoroark scowled. "Eat that and follow me, or stay here by yourself. Your choice."

After a moment's consideration, Angelo finally relented and popped it into his mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully. It didn't taste any different from what he thought a seed would taste like, and he was already feeling something coming over him. _Huh, it doesn't really taste that weird. When is it supposed to-_

Angelo blacked out.

=0=

_Ngh..._

Angelo woke up for the second time that day, although this time it was a smoother transition to the land of consciousness. For one, his stomach wasn't growling like a rabid beast anymore. "What happened...?"

His foggy mind struggled to recall the events beforehand. He... he was gonna go with Zoroark, and he gave Angelo a seed? Oh! Angelo shot up from his half-curled position, ignoring the brief spike of pain in his head, and he scanned his surroundings. He was still in the den they found, but he was now at the back of it, and his mouth had a weird residual taste in it. _Did I fall asleep?_

That must have been it. The moment he ate the seed, a wave of drowsiness had overcome him, and Angelo vaguely remembered colliding into a furry form before completely blacking out. "He tricked me!" Angelo gasped. "And he just left me here... by myself..."

The realisation made him snap his attention to the entrance. There wasn't anyone that he could see outside, and he soon realised why: the soft orange-yellow rays of dusk had long disappeared to give way for the black, star-speckled blanket of night, and Angelo could just barely see the outline of the cliff if he squinted hard enough. He moved to take a peek outside, but something at his toes made him pause.

It was a blue fruit. Angelo bent over to pick it up, and something on the ground caught his eye. It was... it looked like it was supposed to be writing, but whether it was dark or he had just woken up, Angelo couldn't decipher it for the life of him. There were a bunch of exclamation points at the end though, which he took to mean that Zoroark was screaming at him through writing. _I think he wants me to stay put..._

Angelo huffed, all desire to chase After Zoroark drying up. He didn't want to risk making the 'mon angry, not after being tricked like that. Setting back against the bumpy wall, Angelo bit into the oran berry. The flesh inside was juicy and sweet, but with a twist of tartness that made him scrunch his face up. However, food was food, and Angelo was soon sucking up stray trails of berry juice on his fingers. _That was nice._

Zoroark still wasn't back. As time ticked on, every little noise made him increasingly prone to flinching at random noises, and the sounds of dropping pebbles drove him further back against the wall. Zoroark's words came back to him, how he couldn't be seen by other Pokémon, and his heart raced as wildly as his imagination. What if something were to burst in here right this very second and attacked him? What if they wanted to eat him?!

Angelo hunched down, a palm pressed against his forehead. _No no no, I can't make any noises. Breathe... Breathe... Breathe..._ He sucked in breath after shaky breath, his neck burning and beads of sweat soaking into his blindfold. _Ick. I should take it off... Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that._ He needed a distraction, before his heart burst right out of his chest.

Carefully pinching the cloth, Angelo pulled it off-

And his vision was engulfed in darkness.

"AH!"

Angelo toppled forward in his surprise. His face smacked against the compact ground, sending a burst of pain through his nose. "Ow!" he yelped, hand flying up to rub the afflicted area furiously. "Ooow, what happened...?"

Angelo pushed himself to his knees, whining softly, blinking... and he blinked some more as he came to the realisation that the darkness was still hanging before him. He scrubbed his eyes, but it refused to go away. A suspicion began to bloom in his mind. _Is it..._

Angelo pulled it back down, and vision flooded back in his eyes. He pulled it off, and everything went black. Down, colour. Up, black. Down, colour... His stomach lurched at the constant flickering, and Angelo finally decided to leave it up before the berry came back up. This was so weird... Was the blindfold helping him see? He was blind without it on. But that didn't make any sense. How was a piece of cloth helping him see? Was it magic?

Angelo gasped at the revelation. _Is this blindfold magic? Wow! How does it do that?_

All worries about intruders were chased out by this newfound fascination. He could probably test it out now; a little peek outside the den wouldn't hurt him... Oh wait. Zoroark wanted him to stay inside. He'd probably get mad if Angelo tried that...

... But why should he? It was really dark outside, there was almost no chance of someone actually seeing him... oh, but they could smell him if he went outside. No, but then they would've already sniffed him out and tried to eat him... but-

There was a strangled-sounding noise. "What the heck are you doing?"

The sudden voice sent Angelo flying backwards into the wall, smacking right on the tender spot. Hastily pulling the blindfold back down, Angelo spotted Zoroark standing right at the entrance, clutching into his significantly bulkier bag and wearing a bemused look. His fur seemed more dishevelled than before. "U-um... I-I wasn't trying to do anything!"

Zoroark opened his mouth as if to say something, but then shook his head. "Nope. Not going to bother with asking ya." He entered the den, setting down the full bag and rummaging through it, pulling out another apple. Angelo accepted it with little hesitation this time, chowing it down the moment it entered his grasp.

"Try not to choke on it, kid."

Angelo took a break from eating to catch his breath. More than half the apple was already gone. "I won't," he mumbled through apple mush, perhaps a little too late. "U-um, th-thank you for the food, Mr Zoroark." Angelo didn't know why he had tacked on the honorific, it just seemed appropriate.

"Hrmph." Zoroark returned his gaze to the bag.

An awkward silence fell upon them after that. Neither of them didn't know what to do with each other... or at least, that was what Angelo felt. Surely, Zoroark would feel the same around something he had apparently never seen before? It looked that way, with how he was avoiding Angelo's gaze. Should he say something? What _was_ there to say? ... Oh, wait!

"M-Mr Zoroark? What... What did you give me just now?" he whispered.

"Hm? Oh, that thing? It was a sleep seed," Zoroark said offhandedly, the corner of his mouth twitching. He pulled out another apple, bigger than the one Angelo had, and took a big bite out of it.

"Sleep seed?" Another thing that Angelo was unfamiliar with, but the name spoke volumes about its function. "A-and you made me _eat _that?"

Zoroark gave him a side glance. "Well, yeah. You seriously thought I was going to bring you along with me?" Oh, there was definitely a waver in his voice there. Angelo frowned a little at that, but Zoroark plowed on. "I wasn't really sure whether it'd work on a human, but thank god it did."

"S-so you lied to me! And made me eat it!" Angelo blurted out, hand flying up to his mouth. What if the apple was also…?

"Don't look at me like that, that apple's fine," Zoroark snorted. "S'not like there was anything else I could do, short of just straight up knocking you out. That might actually kill you; you look like a stiff breeze can do you in with no problem.

"Besides, it's way better than picking up your remains when you get torn to bits," he added.

"My...?" Angelo immediately lost what little indignation he had, eyes widening. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Rogues," he said simply, returning back to his apple.

Zoroark then tilted his head in thought. "Well, I guess other 'mons call 'em ferals, but I like rogues better. It rolls off the tongue better." He ate the last bit of apple, and Angelo realised that he still had half of his own left. But Angelo could only stare at it blankly, stomach roiling. "Anyway, it's getting pretty late now. We have to get there before anyone sees us, so we're getting up first thing in the morning. So get some shut-eye when you're done eating."

_Wait, what? Already?_ He still had so many questions, though! Not just about his own situation, but also about this place, the talking Pokémon, the lack of humans on their way here, how he was supposed to return home when he couldn't remember where home was...

Angelo opened his mouth, but then closed it again, eyebrows furrowed. Would... would asking be bothering Zoroark too much? Angelo did remember the chaos that Zoroark and his friend brought from a few hours ago, and he even went out to look for food... Now that he thought more about it, Zoroark must be exhausted. _Maybe I should save my questions for tomorrow...?_

"_What?_"

Angelo jumped. Zoroark was glaring daggers at him... oh, he must've been staring again. Oops. Angelo hastily dropped his gaze, plucking at the blindfold. "S-sorry, I was just... um..."

"Fine, you get one more question, if it stops you from staring like a creep," he snapped. "Just hurry up and spit it out."

Angelo gaped. Another question? And he didn't even have to bargain for it...

"Where are we?" was his first question. If he could know what this place was, maybe it could bring back a memory?

"That's it?" Was it just him, or did Zoroark relax a smidge? "This is the Prairie Continent. Was that all you wanted to know?"

"Um... Y-yeah." In fact, the answer was far from satisfactory, given that he had no idea what this Prairie Continent was, but the look Zoroark had told him that pressing would only bring more irritation. The name didn't trigger any sense of familiarity, but Angelo still felt a little comforted knowing where he was now. This place definitely looked like a prairie... not that he actually knew what a prairie looked like. But it sounded grassy.

Zoroark had gone back to digging through his bag. Recognising it as a dismissal, Angelo backed into his little corner, tucking his head behind his knees. He wished that he could have thoughts to mull over, but there were only questions after questions clouding his mind. Angelo took a deep breath. _What do I remember, what do I remember..._

Angelo remembered his own name, as well as the species of all the Pokémon he had come across today.

What Angelo couldn't remember, no matter how much he frowned or chewed his lip, was _everything else_. His head was aching with renewed vigour. It was no use; he was just spinning in circles in the fog hanging over his mind. Maybe he could try again once he some rest...

Zoroark was stretched out across the ground with arms crossed behind his head, tracing a claw across a piece of paper in his paws. He looked awfully comfortable for someone lying on such a hard ground. And warm too. It was probably thanks to his fluffy-looking mane. _Why can't I have fur like that?_ he thought, tinged with a little envy.

After trying to sweep the dust off his planned sleeping spot and failing miserably, Angelo curled up as best he could and squeezed his eyes shut. He shifted uncomfortably, acutely aware of the many tiny stones digging into his side. He twisted his body to the left. _Go to sleep, just go to sleep..._

He turned to the right. _Do Pokémon always sleep like this? What are the made of?_

Left. _And it's so cold, too..._ Goosebumps were raised as he rubbed his arms to restore some warmth.

Right. _Maybe I can ask for another sleep seed...?_

"_Go to sleep_!" Zoroark hissed from behind, and Angelo nearly jumped out of his skin.

After catching a glimpse of Zoroark's glare despite the darkness, Angelo finally turned his back firmly towards the 'mon. All thoughts about sleep seeds fled his mind in that instant. Maybe he should just grit his teeth for tonight, before he made Zoroark even madder...

_I'll think more about it tomorrow._ Angelo squeezed his eyes shut after that mental promise. This time, his consciousness tethered on the border separating sleep and wakefulness, and Angelo spent the rest of the night drifting between each, his dreams filled with winding forest paths and hungry eyes...


End file.
